Light reflecting device



March 5, 1935. s. s. CRAMER 1,993,595

LIGHT REFLECTING DEVICE Filed Jan. 5, 1955 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LIGHT REFLECTING DEVICE Stanley S. Cramer, Haddon Heights, N. 1., as signor to Radio Condenser Company, Camden,

Application January 3, 1933, Serial No. 849,813

- This invention relates toan article of manufacture generally known in the art to which it appertains as a reflecting mirror and means to support it. 7

It is well known when a permanent or a moving source of light is impinged upona mirror, a light beam by reflectionreturns to its source of origin. In many forms of somewhat similar devices in the prior art, resort is made to the use of prismatic glass or cylindrical glass mirrors, and sometimes parabolic or semispherical mirrors. In contradistinction to all of various forms of configurations, including "lenses (2 technical characteristics, and by this I mean the ground and polished forms having precision characteristics and attributes, and having more than one axis, and which are expensive, I employ common clear glass toy marbles such as are used in the game of marbles indulged in by boys.

In the prior art, of which an extensive re-.

search has been made, whatever form of mirror is adopted, a separate metal reflector is used in connection therewith in order to enhance its usefulness and efficiency. In my co-pending ap- :plication, Serial Number 628,489, flled July 20,

1932, I make use of a housing or casing somewhat resembling the ordinary dressmakers thimble, made of fairly heavy metal and a separate reflector in connection therewith.

In the present invention the separate thimble is dispensed with-andin its place I employ a drawnshell of thin material having a highly polished surface on one of its sidm suitably shaped to permit a toy marble to be force-fitted therein. This toy marble serves every purpose equally as well as the ground and polished tech-' nical lens. I have discovered thatno matter how accurately the lens is made, when it is subiected to the elements it becomes coated with a crust of dirt. 'I'he eiiiciency is destroyed thereby and the expected benefits not realized.

While this disclosure was not made mention of. in my copending application Serial No. 626,-

489, it was nevertheless then known to me and it was for this reason that a toy marble was used ner chosen. For example, the units may be assembled-either to a metal or wooden structure of any size or form and arranged to spell out a word, or arranged in numerical characters,

which is sometimes desirable. I believe a suiflcient explanation of the characteristics of dissimilar forms of the mirrors or lenses has been made to those skilled in the art to permit them to practice my invention without further elaboration upon this subject.

,The principal object of constructing my invention in its specific combination per se is to secure mass production, since only two parts are used, which is clearly indicated in the drawing and forms the very essence of this invention.

It is to be understood that I make no claim to the individual parts herein disclosed and shown, but what I do claim is the specific combination per se of a metallic tubular-member having a reflecting surface thereon and a sphere of clear glass force-fitted therein acting as a reflecting stream is impinged thereupon.

Referring to the drawing,

Figure 1 is a somewhat enlarged, longitudinal,

sectional view through the unit with the parts separated.

FigrrreZisaviewsimilartoFlgureLbut with the parts of the unit assembled.

'mirror. when either a flxed or moving light Flgure3isaplanview of thedviceasitap- I- pears. looking directly at it, as when a beam of light is impinged upon it as by .the light emitted Y by the headlights oi. an approaching automobile. Figure 4 shows the reflecting unit mounted within a metal disk or plate.

e 5 shows the reflecting unit mounted wi a wooden disk or plate.

Figure 6 showsa plan view of the device mounted upon a metal or wooden plate arranged to form indicia,similar to Burleigh Patent No.

In the drawing similar reference numbers are used throughout.

Figure 1 shows a shell of ductile metal drawn into the form of a cup and having its bottom 7 highly polished 'to' act asa reflecting mirror. In drawing this shell, the surface acting as the mirror is in no'wise abraised. However, in the process of drawing, the sides between the lines 1 become somewhat scleroid or hardened which is desirable. The internal portio indicated by the arrow 2 comprises the reflect surface.

InFigures2and3asphereortoymarble3 ofclearglassisindicatedflrmlynestedinthe shell shown in Figure 1, and bounded between the lines 4, is shown an outwardly inclined portion conforming to the spherical dimension of the toy marble which is restricted by the inwardly inclined portion 5, thus maintaining a chosen distance between the sphere or ball and the reflecting surface 2.

It will be noted that the outer rim of the shell or cup is flared outwardly at 7. This is for two purposes; first, to assist in guiding the ball or 'marble 3 into place in the cup, and secondly to act as a stop when the unit is forced into an aperture or orifice in a mounting plate 6 such as the metal plate of Figure 4, or a non-metal plate as shown in Figure 5. In the latter case a cement S'may be used to produce adhesion between the unit and the plate; while if a metal plate is used, the force-fit creates sufllcient friction to hold the unit securely in place without any extra agents being required.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A two-piece light-reflecting unit composed of a' drawn metal housing having an imperforate polished bottom surface, a portion of considerable area immediately' adjacent the opening into the housing formed to simulate a sphere and having a rim flaring outwardly, a portion of smaller diameter intermediate the spherically shaped portion and the reflector, and a glass sphere force-fitting within the spherically formed part of the housing and resting against said part of smaller diameter, said spherically formed part of the housing having suflicient resilience to directly and automatically grip and hold the glass sphere.

2. A two-piece light-reflecting unit composed of a single-piece metal housing having a reflecting surface at the bottom thereof, said housing having a flared rim for the purposes described and a portion of considerable area adjacent the rim formed to receive a spherical body and adapted to grip the walls of an opening in a mounting plate, and a sphere of clear glass force-fitting in said portion, said portion having sumcient resilience to directly and automatically grip and hold said spherical body and structural means integral with the housing for limiting the extent to which said sphere can be forced into the housing.

STANLEY S. CRAMER. 

